This invention relates generally to systems for diagnosing and treating medical conditions using instruments deployed within a living body.
Multiple electrode arrays are used to diagnose or treat a variety of medical conditions.
For example, physicians use arrays of multiple electrodes to examine the propagation of electrical impulses in heart tissue to locate aberrant conductive pathways. The techniques used to analyze these pathways, commonly called xe2x80x9cmapping,xe2x80x9d identify regions in the heart tissue, called foci, which can be ablated to treat the arrhythmia. When used for this purpose, the multiple electrode arrays are typically located in electrical contact with either epicardial or endocardial tissue. The multiple electrodes are coupled to an external cardiac stimulator, which applies electrical pacing signals through one or more electrodes at given frequencies, durations, or amplitudes to myocardial tissue, a process called xe2x80x9cpacing.xe2x80x9d The multiple electrodes on the array are also typically coupled to signal processing equipment, called xe2x80x9crecorders,xe2x80x9d which display the morphologies of the electrocardiograms or electrograms recorded during pacing. Sometimes, another roving electrode is deployed in association with the multiple electrode array, to pa e the heart at various endocardial locations, a technique called xe2x80x9cpace mapping.xe2x80x9d When it is desired to ablate myocardial tissue, an electrode coupled to a source of, e.g., radio frequency energy is deployed.
In conducting these diagnostic or therapeutic procedures, the physician must compare all paced electrocardiograms or electrograms to those previously recorded during an induced arrhythmia episode. The physician also must know the position of all deployed electrodes in order to interpret the data in a meaningful way. The physician also needs to be able to accurately maneuver and position the roving or ablation electrode, when used. For these reasons, these procedures required a considerable degree of skill and experience on the part of the attending medical personnel.
Conventional systems and methods designed to aid the physician in his difficult task became impractical and unwieldy as new technology provides more sophisticated arrays, have more electrodes arranged with increased density. With larger and more dense electrode arrays, the number of possible failure modes, also increases. Conventional systems and methods cannot automatically and continuously monitor the status of the more sophisticated arrays, to warn the physician in the event of an opened or shorted electrode condition or other malfunction.
Thus, there is a need for improved systems and methods for manipulating and monitoring the use of multiple electrode arrays, as well as systems and methods for processing, monitoring, and interpreting data from multiple electrode arrays in an efficient, organized manner.
One aspect of the invention provides an interface for use in association with an electrode structure which, in use, is deployed in contact with heart tissue to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. The interface includes a controller coupled to the electrode structure, which conditions the electrode structure to perform a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure and to monitor events during the procedure The interface also includes a display screen and an interface manager coupled to controller and the display screen. The interface manager includes a first function to generate a display comprising an image of the electrode structure at least partially while performing the procedure. The interface manager also includes a second function to annotate the image in response to events monitored by the controller.
Another aspect of the invention provides a method for mapping myocardial tissue. The method deploys an electrode structure in contact with myocardial tissue. The method generates a display comprising an image of the electrode structure. The method causes the electrode structure to pace myocardial tissue and record paced electric events in myocardial tissue while the image is displayed for viewing. The method annotates the image in response to the paced electrical events which are recorded.
Another aspect of the invention provides systems and methods for examining myocardial tissue. The systems and methods deploy an electrode structure in contact with myocardial tissue. The systems and methods generate a display comprising an image of the Electrode structure. The systems and methods annotate the image to show an anatomic feature. The systems and methods cause the electrode structure to conduct a diagnostic or therapeutic procedure affecting myocardial tissue while the image is displayed for viewing.
Other features and advantages of the inventions are set forth in the following Description and Drawings, as well as in the appended Claims.